PHYS 124 MODERN PHYSICS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE

Semester: Spring 2024

Instructor: Ali Serpengüzel | SCI 119

Lectures: Tuesday / Thursday 1000 | ENG B30

Coordinator: Nazmi Yılmaz | SCI 136

Assistants: Serhat Can Kadıoğlu & İsmail İshak Arslan

Labor Session: Friday | KUSIS | SNA B136C

Labor Session Reports Upload: Blackboard

Problem Session: Tuesday 1730 | SNA 159

Textbook: Physics in Biology and Medicine, Paul Davidovits, 4th Edition, Academic Press (2013).

Additional Textbook: University Physics, Hugh D. Young and Roger A. Friedman, 13th edition, Addison-Wesley (2011).

Science Librarian: Ebru Çınar | LIB 222

Course Description: Electromagnetism, electromagnetic waves, optics and vision, electrical characteristics of the nervous system, quantum theory of light, atoms, and molecules, intermolecular forces, interaction of light with matter, absorption, fluorescence, stimulated emission, physics of medical imaging techniques such as x-ray computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography.

Course Objective: The objective of this course is to teach the importance of physical knowledge as well as the experimental know how that goes along with it. Atomic, molecular, optical, nuclear, and particle physics lies at the very foundation of natural phenomena and every student of nature should master these topics before graduation.

Learning Outcomes: The students are expected to learn atomic, molecular, optical, nuclear, and particle physics, how to setup experiments, how to record reliable data analyze their measurements, discuss their results and present their written reports in an intelligible way.

Teaching Method: There are two weekly face to face meetings. There are presentations and demonstrations. There is a problem session every week and a labor session every other week.

Attendance: All students are required to attend classes, labor sessions and problem sessions. Even a university approved “Medical Excused Absence” or “Dean of Student’s Excused Absence” doesn’t relieve you of this attendance requirement. Students who miss more than 1/3 of the classes (Excused or Unexcused) might receive an automatic F irrespective of their course average.

Labor Session: Come to the laboratory on time. You may not enter the labor session, if you are more than 15 minutes late. If you miss a laboratory experiment without an official excuse, your grade will be zero for that experiment. Come to the laboratory prepared. You should be familiar with the experiment, before you come to the laboratory. Do the necessary preliminary work, before you come to the laboratory. Upload your laboratory reports to Blackboard.

Laboratory Note Book: is available at the bookstore. Every student should have one square ruled A4 size laboratory notebook. Bring your laboratory notebook to all the laboratory sessions. You will record with a pen (not a pencil) the schematics, the relevant parameters, your measurements in your laboratory notebook. You will date all the pages in the lab notebook during that particular experiment.

Grading policy for the exams: two midterm and a final exam  (25 % each) and laboratory reports (25%). The exam dates will be announced later. Makeup exams are very reluctantly given only with a university approved medical excuse, and if given, will always be harder then the original exams. Do not plan to take makeups. You will submit a laboratory report for each laboratory experiment in Blackboard.

Student Code of Conduct: Students should be familiar with the Koç University Student Code of Contact.